Choo's parents would have been most upset had they been asked; Girton College might not have approved, as the censor had reminded me in his letter; and the Queen's scholarship authorities might have raised difficulties. We were already mature, in our mid-20s, and we had made up our minds.

Unaware of our true motive, a friend who came from that part of England recommended an inn at Stratford-on-Avon as a place to spend Christmas and to visit the renowned Shakespeare theatre.

Once we arrived, we notified the local Registrar of Marriages of our intention, and after two weeks of residence were duly married.

On the way to Stratford-on-Avon we had stopped in London, where I bought Choo a platinum wedding ring from a jeweller in Regent Street. But when we went back to Cambridge, she wore the ring on a chain around her neck.